violin

See also: Violin and violín

English

A violin

Etymology

From Italian violino (“little viola”), from viola + -ino (“forming diminutives”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌvaɪəˈlɪn/

  • Audio (GA)

    (file)

• (Hong Kong) IPA^(key): /ˌvaɪ.oʊˈlin/, [ˌwaʊˈlin]
• Rhymes: -ɪn

Noun

violin (plural violins)

1. A small unfretted stringed instrument with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) G-D-A-E, usually held against the chin and played with a bow.

   When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like this, it's a violin.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     She was looking more like Sherlock Holmes than ever. Slap a dressing-gown on her and give her a violin, and she could have walked straight into Baker Street and no questions asked.

2. (inexact, sometimes proscribed) Any instrument of the violin family, always inclusive of violins, violas, and cellos and sometimes further including the double bass.

   The string quartet, one of the most popular groupings in chamber music, is composed entirely of violins: two violins proper, one viola, and one cello.

3. (music, metonymically) The position of a violinist in an orchestra or group.

   The first violin often plays the lead melody lines in a string quartet.

Usage notes

The distinction between violins and fiddles is typically contextual and cultural. The same instrument is considered a violin when playing classical music in formal settings, a fiddle when playing folk or country music, and variously described in other settings (such as jazz and rock) depending whichever term seems more appropriate to the speaker.

Synonyms

• fiddle (see above), crowd (obsolete or dialectical)

Derived terms

• bass violin
• Chinese violin
• electric violin
• false violin spider
• first violin
• horn violin
• horn-violin
• kit violin
• kit-violin
• nail violin
• play someone like a violin
• second violin
• Stroh violin
• violinist
• violin maker
• violin plot
• violin spider
• world's smallest violin
• world's tiniest violin

 

Related terms

• viol
• viola
• violoncello

Descendants

• → Japanese: バイオリン (baiorin)
• → Korean: 바이올린 (baiollin)

Translations

string instrument

• Afrikaans: viool (af)
• Albanian: violina f
• Amharic: ቫዮሊን (vayolin), ማሲንቆ (am) (masinḳo)
• Arabic: كَمَان (ar) m (kamān)

  Egyptian Arabic: كمنجه (kamunajih)

  Moroccan Arabic: كمنجة f (kamanja)

• Armenian: ջութակ (hy) (ǰutʻak), քեման (hy) (kʻeman)
• Assamese: বেহেলা (behela)
• Asturian: violín m
• Azerbaijani: skripka (az)
• Basque: biolin
• Belarusian: скры́пка f (skrýpka)
• Bengali: বেহালা (bn) (behala)
• Breton: violoñs m
• Bulgarian: цигу́лка (bg) f (cigúlka)
• Burmese: တယော (my) (ta.yau:)
• Catalan: violí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 小提琴 (siu² tai⁴ kam⁴)

  Mandarin: 小提琴 (zh) (xiǎotíqín), 梵啞鈴／梵哑铃 (zh) (fànyǎlíng)

• Cornish: fyll m
• Corsican: viulinu m
• Crimean Tatar: kemane
• Czech: housle (cs) f pl
• Danish: violin (da) c
• Dutch: viool (nl), vedel (nl) f
• Dzongkha: པི་ཝང (pi wang)
• Emilian: please add this translation if you can
• Erzya: кайга (kajga)
• Esperanto: violono
• Estonian: viiul (et)
• Faroese: violin f, fiól f
• Finnish: viulu (fi)
• French: violon (fr) m (formal), crincrin (fr) m (informal)
• Friulian: violin m
• Fula:

  Adlam: 𞤽𞤢𞥄𞤽𞤮𞥅𞤪𞤵

  Latin: ñaañooru

• Galician: violín (gl) m
• Georgian: ვიოლინო (violino)
• German: Geige (de) f (normal), Violine (de) f (technical, formal), Fidel (de) f, Fiedel (de) f (informal)

  Alemannic German: Guege f

• Greek: βιολί (el) n (violí)
• Greenlandic: agiaq
• Hawaiian: pila, waiolina
• Hebrew: כִּנּוֹר / כינור (he) m (kinór)
• Hindi: वायलिन (vāylin), बेला (hi) (belā), सारंगी (hi) (sāraṅgī)
• Hungarian: hegedű (hu)
• Icelandic: fiðla (is) f
• Ido: violino (io)
• Indonesian: biola (id)
• Irish: veidhlín m, veidheal f, fidil f
• Italian: violino (it) m
• Japanese: バイオリン (ja) (baiorin), 小提琴 (ja) (Koteikin), 提琴 (teikin), フィドル (fidoru)
• Kabuverdianu: rabéka
• Kalmyk: хур (xur)
• Kannada: ಪಿಟೀಲು (piṭīlu)
• Kazakh: скрипка (skripka)
• Khmer: វីយោឡុង (viiyoulong)
• Korean: 바이올린 (ko) (baiollin)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: keman (ku) f, kemançe (ku) f, viyolîn (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: скрипка (ky) (skripka)
• Ladin: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: ຊຶງ (sưng), ຊຸງ (sung), ຊໍ (sǭ)
• Latin: (Modern Latin) violinum
• Latvian: vijole, smuika f (outdated)
• Ligurian: violin m
• Lithuanian: smuikas
• Lombard: viorin (lmo) m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Vigelien f, Fiedel f (popular), Fiddel f (popular)

• Macedonian: виоли́на f (violína), гу́сла f (gúsla)
• Malay: biola (ms)
• Maltese: vjolin m
• Manx: biol m
• Maori: whira
• Marathi: वायोलिन f (vāyolin)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хийл хөгжим (xiil xögžim), хийл (mn) (xiil), бага эрүү хуур (baga erüü xuur) (China)

  Mongolian: ᠬᠢᠭᠢᠯᠢ
  ᠬᠥᠭᠵᠢᠮ (kigili köɣǰim), ᠬᠢᠭᠢᠯᠢ (kigili), ᠪᠠᠭ᠎ᠠ
  ᠡᠷᠡᠦ
  ᠬᠤᠭᠤᠷ (bag-a ereü quɣur)

• Neapolitan: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fiolin (no) m, fele m or f

  Nynorsk: fiolin m, fele f

• Occitan: violon (oc) m
• Ottoman Turkish: كمان (keman)
• Persian: ویولن (fa) (viyolon), غژک (fa) (ğežak)
• Piedmontese: violin m
• Polish: skrzypce (pl) pl
• Portuguese: violino (pt) m, rabeca (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਵਾਇਲਿਨ (pa) f (vāilin)
• Quechua: wiyulin
• Romagnol: viulén m
• Romanian: vioară (ro) f
• Romansch: gìa f, violina f
• Russian: скри́пка (ru) f (skrípka)
• Samoan: vaiolini
• Scottish Gaelic: fidheall f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: виолина f

  Roman: violina (sh) f

• Slovak: husle f pl
• Slovene: violina (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wiolina f (formal), fidle pl (informal)

• Spanish: violín (es) m
• Sranan Tongo: finyoro
• Swahili: fidla
• Swedish: fiol (sv) c, violin (sv) c
• Tagalog: biyolin, magbiyolin
• Tajik: скрипка (skripka), ғиҷҷак (ġijjak), камонча (kamonča)
• Tamil: வயலின் (ta) (vayaliṉ)
• Tatar: скрипка (skripka)
• Telugu: వాయులీనము (te) (vāyulīnamu), ఫిడేలు (te) (phiḍēlu)
• Thai: ไวโอลิน (th) (wai-oo-lin)
• Turkish: keman (tr)
• Turkmen: skripka
• Ukrainian: скри́пка (uk) f (skrýpka)
• Urdu: سارنگی m (sarangi)
• Uyghur: ئىسكىرىپكا (iskiripka)
• Uzbek: skripka (uz)
• Venetian: violìn m
• Vietnamese: vĩ cầm
• Volapük: viäl (vo)
• Walloon: violon (wa) m
• Waray-Waray: biyolin
• Welsh: feiolin f (formal), ffidil f (informal)
• West Frisian: fioele
• Yiddish: פֿידל m (fidl)
• Zhuang: siuj dizginz
• Zulu: ivayolini

Verb

violin (third-person singular simple present violins, present participle violining, simple past and past participle violined)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To play on, or as if on, a violin.

See also

• bass viol
• cello
• double bass
• viola

Anagrams

• olivin

Catalan

Verb

violin

1. inflection of violar:
   1. third-person plural present subjunctive
   2. third-person plural imperative

Danish

Etymology

From Italian violino, diminutive form of viola with diminutive suffix -ino.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /violiːn/, [vioˈliːˀn]
• Rhymes: -in

Noun

violin c (singular definite violinen, plural indefinite violiner)

1. violin

Declension

Declension of violin

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	violin	violinen	violiner	violinerne
genitive	violins	violinens	violiners	violinernes

References

• “violin” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “violin” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Piedmontese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vjuˈliŋ/

Noun

violin m (plural violin)

1. violin